that's immortality, my darlings
by everything is a novel
Summary: It's the students against the teachers once again in a race to stop an ancient curse from being released: but before the students can win, they have to learn to work together. Season 3. Full summary inside.
1. house of new

**full summary.** When Nina Martin, the Chosen One, leaves the House of Anubis for America, two new girls arrive to take her place: KT Rush and Remy Walker. With Remy comes her twin brother Tate, and with KT comes a whole lot of sassy.

The students separate themselves into clear cliques and start to work on the mystery of Anubis House separately, unaware of the other teams; meanwhile the teachers decide to try the last thing they can to reach immortality with the help of the Tears of Gold.

While the teachers fight over the possible consequences of their future actions, the students fight over more trivial dilemmas. Can they step away from their drama long enough to work together and stop the teachers before a terrible curse is released?

* * *

**a/n.** There are several things I should mention:

1) The pairings I'll start with are Peddie, Amfie, Fabina, and Jara. Who knows what pairings I'll end with? ;)  
2) Some characters you miss might come back, and some characters you don't probably will too. And no, I'm not talking about Rufus. The man is dead.  
3) There are three OCs: Remy Walker, Tate Walker, and Seth Lee. There may or may not be one more to come in the future. You will know him when you see him, if I do decide that he is necessary.  
4) I'm not posting any author's notes or anything beyond this ultimate one. If anyone asks a question I want to answer, I will incorporate it into the story. :) Constructive criticism, as always, is a wonderful tool, and I encourage you to use it.  
5) A million thanks to my beta sickoftonight! :D  
6) And no, I don't own this.

* * *

**that's immortality, my darlings.**–Ali DiLaurentis, _Pretty Little Liars_

**one.**

Nina Martin had moved before–several times before–but she found that she was never quite able to get used to the feeling of being uprooted. She was already sitting in her homeroom, with her friend Tristan to her right and her friend Jenny to the left, but she continuously checked her watch, thinking about where everyone at Anubis House would be.

Nina thought Amber Millington would probably be obsessing over bringing in all of her suitcases full of shoes and perhaps making her loyal boyfriend, Alfie Lewis, carry in the rest of those suitcases for her. Patricia Williamson was probably arguing with her boyfriend Eddie Sweet, although they would probably make up by dinnertime. Jerome Clarke was probably sitting around with his girlfriend, Mara Jaffray, laughing and talking like the strangely cute couple they were. Poor Mick Campbell was still in Australia as far as Nina had heard, so that left Joy Mercer and Fabian Rutter.

Nina swallowed hard at the thought of Fabian. He was everything she had ever thought she wanted in a boyfriend: sweet, kind, caring, intelligent, cute, and even a little geeky. Unfortunately, as her last term spent at the British boarding school had shown, he was also everything Joy had ever wanted in a boyfriend. Nina wondered if her absence would make Joy think that Fabian was in the wide open spaces, free for the taking.

Out of habit, Nina reached up and began to rub her thumb across the golden locket Fabian had given her the last time she'd seen him. Her homeroom teacher's words became a throbbing background sound as Nina thought about the boarding school she'd left. Would someone new be there to replace her? Nina thought of how quickly Joy had been replaced and figured that someone would probably replace her that quickly as well, if not faster. She hoped that Amber would be nice to the new girl regardless of her replacement status.

"Hey," Tristan hissed from Nina's right. Nina jumped slightly and glanced in Tristan's direction. His eyebrows were pulled together; he was frowning a little, looking concerned. "You okay?"

Nina nodded and tried to smile. She had missed these people–she really had. She decided that she had to relax. Maybe things would turn out all right. In fact, Nina thought, maybe she and Fabian could go to the same college, although hopefully one in America. Nina and her grandmother would never be able to afford sending her back to England for college. It was a wonder Nina had gone to the boarding school in the first place–it was only on scholarship, and that scholarship had been revoked as the school's funds dipped lower, which meant no more British boarding school for Nina Martin.

She realized that she was moping again, and Nina straightened up, focusing on Mrs. Hawkins. _This will be a good year,_ she told herself, even though she doubted the words as she thought them.

* * *

Victor Rodenmaar's precious peace was once again being shattered mercilessly as teenagers with suitcases clattered into the House of Anubis. Victor scowled and tried to focus on the paperwork he needed to fill out, but with the loud voices of those ridiculous kids echoing everywhere, Victor found it harder and harder to concentrate.

"They will never shut up," he growled to himself under his breath. Victor threw his pen down onto his desk, creating a sizeable splotch of black ink on the papers, and leaned back in his chair with a groan of irritation. "Oh, Corbiere," he said absently to the only pet he'd ever had, "these children will be the death of me."

Corbiere deigned not to respond. Victor decided that was fortunate; if Corbiere had responded, then there truly would have been something to worry about.

As Victor moaned in pain and muttered foul things to his stuffed bird, the ever loud students gathered in the living room. "Oh!" Amber Millington squealed, throwing her arms around Alfie Lewis and Patricia Williamson. "It's so good to be back! I'm going to show you all of my new outfits!"

"You don't mean just me, do you?" asked Alfie, looking legitimately worried by this prospect.

"She means _everyone_," said Patricia, rolling her eyes good-naturedly. She looked around the room at the people that had gathered there and frowned when she saw Fabian sitting on the end of the couch, looking down rather miserably at the empty spot beside him. "Fabian, she hasn't _died_," said Patricia, stepping out from under Amber's arm to join her sad friend. "You'll be able to visit her."

Fabian shrugged one shoulder lopsidedly. "Yeah," he said, but his eyes gave away his contrary thoughts. He glanced over at Mara Jaffray and Jerome Clarke, who were flirting at the dining room table. He seemed to be thinking of how well that plan worked out for Mara and Mick Campbell when Mick moved to Australia. That plan might have been better off not being a plan at all.

"Awwh, relax, Fabian," said Amber, pushing Alfie over to sit on the couch opposite Fabian and Patricia. "I miss Nina too. I'm going to Skype with her tonight though." Amber smiled, suddenly seeming to think of something. "In fact, I think I'm going to Skype her _every_ night. Then it'll be like I have a roommate again!"

There was a rather awkward silence as the depressing thought of having lost Nina suddenly sank in. Alfie cleared his throat and reached for a brownie from the coffee table between the two couches. "Yum," he said, very obviously trying to break the awkward tension. "Brownies!"

"Get _me_ one," Amber whined.

In response, Alfie bit into his brownie. Amber playfully smacked him in the shoulder. Patricia snuck a glance toward Fabian, who shook his head and smiled at his friends' antics. Patricia relaxed back into the couch and looked around the living room, mostly content. Her stomach was filled with butterflies at the thought of seeing her American boyfriend Eddie, but she would never admit it.

A good twenty minutes passed. Joy Mercer arrived, and she greeted everyone in the living room, but she then left to unpack. Patricia guessed with a slight sense of guilt that it was because everyone in the living room had been completely horrible to her last term. Patricia rather thought she should probably go join Joy and maybe help her unpack, but she wanted to see Eddie first.

Eddie soon arrived. Patricia met him in the hall and hugged him, and then kissed him for good measure. "Whoa there, Yakker," said Eddie jokingly, once they both pulled back. "Getting a little feisty, are we?"

"Oh, shut it, Kreuger," Patricia answered, ruffling his hair affectionately. "Come on, let's go see everyone."

* * *

The day was already darkening by the time Remy and Tate Walker arrived at their new boarding school. "Well," said Tate, raising his eyebrows as he peered out the cab window nearest to him, "isn't this just a lovely sight to see?" He glanced over at his twin sister and grinned rather impishly. "Welcome to Harry Potter Land, Remington Claire."

Remy gave him a saucy sort of glare before lightly slapping his shoulder. "What was that for?" Tate asked, pretending to be offended. The cab driver twisted around before Remy could respond and rolled down the glass separating him from his passengers.

"Well, you're here," said the cabbie. "Get out and pay me."

Tate and Remy exchanged unanimously irritable looks before climbing out of the cab. "You can pay him," Remy said before she walked around back to get out their suitcases.

"Thanks, sis," Tate answered, as he dug into his jeans pocket to locate the money. The second the cabbie was paid and the suitcases were out, he took off, leaving Tate and Remy standing awkwardly in the middle of a half-empty parking lot.

Their new boarding school was definitely not a sight for sore eyes; in fact, Remy rather had the idea that it was making her eyes sore. She already disliked it. The main school building was all sharp edges and Gothic, with a few gargoyles sprinkled here and there. The sun was lowering itself behind the building, casting ominous shadows.

Tate sighed. "Too bad we're not in the same house," he said conversationally, as he adjusted the sunglasses he had perched on top of his head. "We could have really stirred up some trouble." As if to punctuate that, he coughed into his elbow.

Remy rolled her eyes. "You're Tate, the prepster jock," she said, smirking slightly. "You're not supposed to cause trouble, no matter how much you might want to." Tate frowned as he realized the evident truth of her statement. "Now, if you were still Pete–"

"Hush!" Tate said suddenly. "Don't spill all my secrets!"

"I, on the other hand," Remy continued, as she led the way up to the pasty off-white sidewalk in front of the creepy building, "can cause all the trouble I want to, because I am Remy the rebel." She smiled sweetly at Tate before focusing on yanking all her luggage along.

Tate hurried to catch up with his sister. Whereas Remy had to drag her suitcase along and could barely keep her laptop bag and her backpack up, Tate was carrying his suitcase with one arm and had his big duffle bag slung over his back, holding it with the other. "So you're in Anubis House," Tate said, "and I'm two houses down and across the street in Isis House."

"Yep," said Remy, popping the 'p'.

Tate snickered. Remy glanced over at him and grinned. They passed into a shadow that the main building cast; Tate sighed, and the general mirth faded. "This actually seems kind of serious," he admitted, adjusting his grip on his duffle bag. "Mother Dear actually sounded like she was going to leave us here."

"Newsflash, she already did," said Remy darkly.

"She should've let us stay in Manchester," Tate muttered.

They passed back out of the shadow and into the fadey sunset light. The twins were leaving behind the main school building now and were approaching what looked to be a very old-fashioned house. "If we had," Remy answered, "you would still be Pete, and Pete never boded well." Remy squinted at the sign over the door and read _Horus_.

Tate didn't respond. Remy glanced over at him; he was watching his feet as he walked, looking thoughtful. Remy wondered if she'd offended him before moving on to look at the next house. It was labeled _Osiris_. Fortunately, the house a little ways off from Osiris House was labeled _Anubis_. Remy and Tate stopped in front of it, by a little bench and a little brick wall.

"Well," said Remy, "I guess I'll be seeing you."

Tate laughed at her facial expression. Remy grinned crookedly back. "You want some help carrying all that in?" he asked, gesturing vaguely at her suitcase with his elbow. Remy considered the offer for a moment before deciding that if she didn't brave it alone now she never would and shook her head. "In that case," said Tate gingerly, "here's to looking at you, kid."

Remy laughed and shook her head again before marching up toward the House of Anubis. Once she reached the top of the stairs, she glanced back and saw Tate walking along alone, his shadow stretching out long beyond him on the road. Remy drew in a deep breath, turned around, and reached for the doorknob to let herself in.

The inside of the house was as gloomy as the outside. It smelled of must, old wood, and lemony cleaner. Remy paused in the middle of the foyer, taking in her surroundings. There were a couple of stained glass windows, a set of stairs to her right, a strange old door by the stairs, and several doors down a hallway in front of her. To her left there was what she assumed was the entrance to the dining room and the living room, because she could hear the clatter of forks and knives and plates and the blithe chattering of happy students that all knew each other.

Remy sighed. She had no idea where her room would be. It would have been helpful, she thought, if the house proctor or whoever would actually come and greet her. Remy was considering leaving her things by the door and heading in to join the other students when a tall sour-looking man stepped out of the strange old door by the stairs and caught sight of her.

"Ah, hello," he said, in a voice that even sounded curdled. Remy winced. He might have looked wilted, but his voice definitely carried. "You must be one of the new students. Miss Rush, I presume?"

"Walker," said Remy, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "I'm Remy Walker."

The man eyed her almost contemptuously before clearing his throat. "I am Victor Rodenmaar," he said, lifting his chin slightly. "I am the house proctor. Trudy Rehmann is your house mother and your housemates are currently eating in the dining room. You will be sharing a room with Joy Mercer in the attic." He sniffed disdainfully, looking down at Remy's luggage, and folded his arms. "I will take your things upstairs for you. You can join the others."

"Thanks," said Remy, handing Victor her things. He made a noise in his throat in response before turning and heading upstairs. Remy watched him go for a second–his walk reminded her faintly of Quasi Modo–before turning and heading into the living room.

The amount of teenagers sitting at the dining table was momentarily overwhelming. There were no empty seats left, Remy noted. She was starting to feel somewhat sick. All of these people clearly had established cliques. Sometimes she wished she used her brother's tricksy way of dealing with people; now was definitely one of those times. He was probably already partying it up at Isis House, Remy thought bitterly.

"Oh," said someone at the end of the table as Remy awkwardly approached. He had dark brown hair and green eyes. "Er, hello." He waved at Remy as if he wasn't sure what to do. Remy smiled and waved back.

The boy's greeting caught the attention of the rest of the table. The conversation died as literally everyone at the table turned to stare at Remy. "Hi!" said a girl with chocolatey brown hair after a very awkward moment of silence.

"Hey," said Remy.

"Who are you?" asked a guy with blonde-brown hair and an American accent. His mouth was still full. There was a girl with dark red hair sitting next to him, looking at Remy in a calculating way. Remy swallowed.

"I'm Remy Walker," she said. "I'm new."

"Of _course_ you are," muttered a blonde girl before turning back to her food.

The boy with the dark hair and the green eyes looked fairly depressed now. He began to pick at his food. Remy was alarmed; she hadn't thought her outfit was that bad. She looked around at the other people at the table and caught the eye of the girl with the chocolate colored hair. The girl smiled at Remy, and Remy smiled back, sensing an ally.

She probably would have made her way over to the girl with the brown hair if a short plump woman had not then exited what looked like the kitchen. "Oh, hello!" exclaimed the woman–Trudy, Remy assumed. "You need a chair! Hold on a moment!"

Trudy vanished and reappeared moments later, holding a wooden chair. "Thanks," said Remy, dragging the chair over to the end of the table. A boy with dark blonde hair and the girl with dark red hair scooted over to make room for her. The ginger girl still looked as though she had caught a whiff of something nasty.

Supper–rather, the second half of it, as Remy had arrived partway through–was a long and tedious affair. Neither the skinny dark blonde boy nor the angry ginger girl said anything to Remy, and Remy spent most of her time texting her old friend Gwen, whose advice on the standoffish new housemates was to be nice just in case they were all having very bad days.

Remy was breaking off a piece of a roll and slowly bringing it to her mouth, reading a text she'd just received from Quinn, another friend of hers, when Trudy reentered the room. "I hope you've all welcomed Remy," said Trudy. Remy looked up at Trudy and tried not to look as though she'd been caught red-handed. "Oh," said Trudy disapprovingly. "You're not allowed the use of cell phones during supper. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I'll have to take that."

The ginger girl snickered. Remy fought off a blush and attempted to hand her beloved phone over to the house mother with some sense of dignity. As this unfortunate punishment rained down on Remy, people began to stand up at the other end of the table, about to leave the dining room. Remy was actually grateful.

"I'll help you with the dishes, Trudy," said the girl with the pretty brown hair, the only one that had seemed even close to nice. Everyone else left the table, speaking with each other and ignoring both Remy and the nice girl. Remy stood up as well, growing more and more annoyed with every passing second.

"Oh, thanks, Joy," said Trudy. "Remy, you can have your cell phone back at ten o'clock–that's curfew."

"Well, what's the point in that?" Remy muttered under her breath as Trudy turned to walk back into the kitchen. She seemed not to have heard Remy; Remy rolled her eyes and pushed her chair further under the table. Joy of the brown hair was picking up dishes.

Remy decided that even though she was bound to be gone within the next six months, she could at least try and make one friend to keep. That was usually her goal wherever she moved. "I'll help," Remy offered, starting to pick up dishes on the other side of the table. Joy looked up and smiled rather shyly. "So you're Joy?" Remy asked as she tried to pile one dirty plate on top of another.

Joy nodded.

"I'm your roommate, then," said Remy, pleased. At least she hadn't gotten stuck with the bitchy ginger.


	2. house of ally

**that's immortality, my darlings.**–Ali DiLaurentis, _Pretty Little Liars_

**two.  
**

"Just let me out here," said KT Rush. At the rate this cabbie was driving, she might have been better off walking from the airport. The cabbie slowly pulled the cab over to the sidewalk in front of the main school building, or what KT assumed was. "Thanks," said KT shortly, climbing out of the backseat.

She grabbed her suitcase from the trunk and quickly paid the cabbie before allowing herself to step back and actually take a look around. The first word that came to her mind at the sight of her new boarding school was _adventure_. KT couldn't help but smile. Looking around, she could practically already sense the Harry Potter-like action/adventure that could totally happen.

Then again, if she never got to her new home, there would never be any adventure. KT quickly hoisted her suitcase onto the sidewalk, slung her bag over her shoulder, and started off to the right. The sidewalk wound away into some dark and deep-looking woods to the left; KT assumed that the House of Anubis would be somewhere out in the open and not a cabin in the forest.

It was actually rather sad that it was so late. KT could barely see four feet ahead of her, much less the buildings and the houses. It was really a lucky break that KT made it to Anubis House at all: well, the praying as she walked probably helped.

There were lights on inside the house, showing off silhouettes of a couple of lamps and some people. KT rolled her shoulders back and stepped into the artificial light that the windows spilled out onto the ground. This was going to be an _adventure_, she told herself, fighting off the doubtful rather stubborn thoughts that tried to tell her nasty truths. For example, the fact that she was only here because her mother couldn't stand her anymore.

KT distinctly ignored that thought and let herself into the House of Anubis. Upon stepping inside, her eyes immediately began to adjust to the bright light. She squinted around for a moment while her eyes adjusted, seeing mostly wood with odd patterns, a funny tiled floor, and a stairway. A burst of laughter floated out from a door to her left that probably led to the living room.

"Hello," said someone suddenly from KT's right. KT jumped, her head snapping in the direction of the slow speech. KT raised her eyebrows when she saw a tall but rather hunched man standing on the stairs, clutching a–_dear God in heaven_–dead raven. KT looked at the raven in surprise for a moment before forcing herself to look into the man's face. "You must be Miss Rush. We have been expecting you."

KT wondered if 'we' meant him and the raven.

"Hi," she said, waving a little and offering him her brightest smile. "I'm really sorry I'm so late. My plane was delayed and then I got the slowest cab in history. Umm, where am I rooming?"

The man scowled at her. "You will be upstairs, rooming with Amber Millington," he said darkly. "I will take your things for you. The other students are in the living room." He took KT's bag and suitcase and promptly disappeared upstairs with them. KT watched him go for a moment. She wasn't sure whether to abhor him or adore him, honestly; she had always loved Severus Snape, but at the same time, this man was no Alan Rickman.

KT shrugged to herself and headed into the living room. There were students everywhere, it seemed; there were two couples on two different couches, giggling and looking cute together; another couple was sitting at the dining room table with a third wheel, talking as if attempting to include the third wheel; and there were two girls clearing dishes from the table.

"Hello," said KT brightly. The people on the couches stopped talking first and slowly rotated to look at her, as if they weren't quite sure what they were seeing. "I'm KT, and clearly I don't know any of you." She looked expectantly at the couched people, waiting for them to introduce themselves.

"Another alien!" cried a lanky well-dressed guy with hair that looked like it wanted to be blonde.

KT wasn't sure whether that was meant to be a foreign joke or a racist joke. Either way, she decided, it was a joke, and it was bad. "You look great too," she told the guy sarcastically. "Nice to meet you."

"_Jerome_," said the Indian girl that was sitting in his lap. Well, she looked Indian, but she sounded very British. She playfully smacked the jokester Jerome. "I'm Mara," said Jerome's girlfriend, when she was done giggling with her oh-so-polite boyfriend. "And now you know this is Jerome."

"I'm Alfie," offered the black guy on the other couch. His blonde girlfriend just looked at KT rather disdainfully before turning back to Alfie and starting a conversation. KT folded her arms. It looked like everyone was just going to be positively lovely here in England.

KT moved on to the people sitting at the table. The girl with red hair had the same look of disgust as the blonde girl, and introduced herself as Patricia, though she looked like she'd rather spit. The guy whose hand she was holding was American and much nicer–his name was Eddie. And there was a cute but miserable-looking guy who Eddie introduced as Fabian.

Lastly there were the two girls in the kitchen. Both of them were rather short, although one was shorter than the other, and they both had brown hair, although in different shades. "I am so glad you're here," said the taller of the two. "Seriously, you have no idea."

KT glanced back out at the two irritable girls. "I think I'm getting an idea," she remarked.

"I'm Joy," said the shorter one, smiling at KT.

"I'm Remy," said the other girl.

"Are you new, too?" KT asked Remy, as she leaned back against the marble-topped counter behind her. Remy nodded and widened her eyes significantly. KT snorted at her expression. "So," said KT, glancing back out at the other students, "which one is Amber Millington?"

Joy winced. "Are you rooming with her?" KT nodded. "In that case, I'm sorry for you," said Joy. "Amber can be nice, but only when she wants to be."

KT and Remy exchanged glances. "What does that mean?" Remy asked, as she handed Joy a clean plate to put away.

"Well, she was best friends with a girl that didn't come back this year," Joy answered as she put the plate in a cabinet across the kitchen. "She was on scholarship for the last two terms. I heard her scholarship fell through this term or something, so she's back in America now."

"So is that why the third wheel out there is so depressed?" asked KT, gesturing out at Fabian, who was playing with the edge of a placemat while Eddie and Patricia flirted with each other. KT frowned. Either Patricia wasn't a very nice friend, or she was oblivious. KT wouldn't have flirted with her boyfriend right in front of someone who was clearly missing their significant other.

Remy snorted at KT's description of Fabian; Joy sighed. "Yeah, Nina's the reason," Joy said. KT assumed Nina was the American that moved away. "He and Nina were a sickeningly loving couple last term, and probably the term before that." Joy headed off the next question: "I missed most of the term before last because I had mono."

"Ah," said KT, nodding.

"I had mono once," said Remy, pulling a face and giving a fake shudder. "I was out of school for so long, I thought everyone would've forgotten who I was by the time I got back."

"Well, that's what happened here," said Joy, sounding a little bitter.

KT decided not to ask.

* * *

Isis House was quite the conglomeration, Tate had discovered. There was a strange girl that made him think of the Beatles and the sixties; a girl positively obsessed with One Direction; a rebel loner type guy that seemed to sit alone in corners a lot; a flirty girl in very short shorts; a drama queen that always asked people to help her run lines; and an amusingly sarcastic guy that didn't seem to know what he was doing there. Then there was Tate's roommate, Mick.

Tate paused in assembling his side of the room to look over and see how Mick was faring. Mick, too, was new this year–well, in a strange sort of way. Tate hadn't gotten the whole story, but Mick had explained shortly that he had once attended this school, had been recruited for an Australian football team, and then the recruitment had fallen through. Tate laughed when he saw the poster that Mick was taping to the wall. "No way," he said, shaking his head. "Out of all the football teams to like!" This time he was referring to American football.

"Don't tell me you like the Giants," said Mick, turning to face Tate. Tate shifted so Mick could see the poster he was taping up. "Oh, no way," Mick said, laughing. "This isn't okay. We cannot be roommates. We have to switch."

Tate snorted and quickly finished putting up his poster, the adversary of Mick's Patriots poster. "Well, let's see," said Tate. "Then I'll get assigned to be roommates with Seth, and you can be roommates with Jalen."

"On second thought," said Mick, "I think I can handle it."

"Or," said Tate, "you could end up roommates with the flowerchild, or Mrs. Liam Payne, or Satine, or Mrs. President."

Mick looked greatly aggrieved. Tate laughed at his expression and shook his head. "Did you know any of them when you went here before?" Tate asked curiously, as he returned to his bag to find other things to set up around his half of the room. "I mean, were you acquainted with any of them at all?"

"Nah," said Mick with a lopsided shrug. "All the people I know are across the street in Anubis House." He frowned and scratched his head. "Not sure any of them still want to know me, though."

Tate sensed a depressing high school story and consequently changed the subject. "So what d'you think I should know?" Tate asked. "For survival here, I mean. Are there any teachers to avoid, any students to avoid, any students to attach myself to, who to cheat off in class?"

"Don't cheat," said Mick, only half sternly. "They'll catch you, guaranteed. Don't know how, but they will. Avoid Mr. Sweet, but if he decides to take an interest in you or if you get a detention for some reason, you can talk yourself out of it with him. As for students, avoid Jerome Clarke; he is the center of all troublemaking here, and he can make your life a living hell." Mick frowned thoughtfully as he slowly seated himself in the wooden swivel chair in front of his desk. "I guess now we both know to avoid Jalen."

Tate snickered. "To each his own," he said airily, waving one hand in the air. Mick smiled and shook his head.

"Did you say you have a sister earlier?"

Tate nodded. "Actually," he said, as he crammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans, "she is now residing in the House of Anubis." Mick made a face. Tate frowned and shifted his weight. "What's the face for?"

"Creepy place, bitchy residents," said Mick with a shrug. "The house proctor is really mean, and Jerome Clarke lives there." Mick twisted his lips as if in thought. "So do two of my ex-girlfriends."

Tate guessed that the ex-girlfriends part was Mick's depressing high school story. _Well,_ Tate thought as he winced on his new roommate's behalf, _at least I'm safe from those sorts of stories in _this_ house._


	3. house of discovery

**that's immortality, my darlings.**–Ali DiLaurentis, _Pretty Little Liars_

**three.  
**

KT woke in the middle of the night as suddenly and as clearly as if someone had called her name. She shot upright and peered around the dark room, wondering if Amber had done something; but she could hear soft girly snores from the other side of the room. KT frowned and gave the room another onceover before slowly relaxing back into her pillow.

She found that she was completely unable to fall asleep. No matter how many sheep she counted, she was wide awake. KT guessed she was overtired and finally gave up, rolling out of bed to pull on a pair of blue-and-white plaid slippers. An adventure, she thought as she carefully headed for the door of the room, could only be an adventure if you actually started acting like you were in one.

KT slipped out of the room and left the door cracked ever so slightly behind her. She glanced down the hall in one direction and saw that it ended rather quickly with a door labeled _Mara and Patricia_. KT considered peeping in there to find out if Patricia snored, but she decided against it, thinking that she was not Edward Cullen.

She headed in the other direction, passing a couple of bland doors. One of them was labeled _Joy and Remy_; the other was unmarked, and KT knew from experience that that one was the bathroom. Having discovered nothing of interest, KT snuck out as quietly as possible toward the top of the staircase and Victor's office.

KT paused at the top of the stairs and looked toward Victor's office. A lamp was still on, but Victor was nowhere to be seen. For some reason this was alarming, and KT swiftly judged her surroundings again, thinking that Victor could appear out of nowhere to give her detention–or something worse, perhaps. You never knew with adventure stories. KT could see his stuffed raven sitting lonely on his desk, and she guessed that he was probably asleep. If he was creeping, she reasoned, he would have had his pet with him.

She deemed the upstairs clear of all things interesting and headed downstairs. The sixth step from the top creaked, and KT made a mental note to avoid it in the future. The rest of the stairs were silent, which was a little odd considering the house was so old, but KT didn't attribute much to this vague thought.

KT halted at the bottom of the stairs and gave the foyer a cursory glance. Something stuck out to her: a painting hanging on the side of the stairs. KT stepped carefully around the banister to give the painting another look. She could only barely make out the figures due to the milky moonlight slicing in through the nearby windows, but she could definitely see that they were there.

There was a man and his wife standing in front of Anubis House with a girl who was presumably their daughter. KT frowned and leaned closer toward the painting; there was a shadow of a man standing to the direct left of Anubis House, with a smaller shadow standing beside him. _Creepy,_ KT thought, raising her eyebrows. _Who the heck wants to keep this in their house?_

Victor, apparently.

KT looked the painting over again, and then reached toward the right bottom corner. There was something somewhat shiny there, even though the rest of the painting–and the foyer, for that matter–was coated in a thick layer of murky darkness. KT touched the edge of the painting. A sound like something grating suddenly came from behind her and she jumped, accidentally stubbing her toe on the little coffee table in front of the painting. The lamp on the coffee table jumped as she hit the table, and the phone on it jangled. KT barely caught the lamp as it attempted to make a nosedive to freedom.

_Thank You, God,_ KT thought in all seriousness as she righted the lamp. The second the lamp was back in its place, KT stepped away from the table and reached down to hold her throbbing toe. Maybe she'd said thank you a bit too early, she thought, scowling as she rubbed her slipper in an attempt to make her foot stop aching.

KT turned to see where the grating noise had come from. It was immediately obvious: the grandfather clock. It had stopped ticking, and there was a small square compartment sticking out of the clock's face. "Hello," KT murmured to herself without thinking, forgetting her toe and reaching for the compartment.

There was a small necklace inside. KT pulled it out and frowned down at it. It was a weird little thing, shaped like a demented eye. KT tried to open it–it appeared to be a locket–but it refused to open. _Well,_ she thought, turning the oddity over and over in her fingers. _This is…weird._

A weird adventure for a weird house, KT decided, before closing the compartment and heading back up to bed.

* * *

The following morning the cliques were established–that was how Remy saw it, in any case. There was no longer enough room to seat everyone at the dining table, so Joy and KT offered to move into the kitchen. When Remy saw her allies jumping ship, she followed.

At one end of the dining table there were Patricia, Fabian, Amber, and Alfie; at the other end, there were Jerome and Mara. Eddie sat between them, as if he wasn't quite sure which team he wanted to join. Remy saw that both groups looked quite engrossed with themselves and she silently wished Eddie good luck on joining either one of them. It was odd, really. She would have thought that Eddie would have hung out with Patricia, or at least had his own friends.

"You guys will never believe what I did last night," said KT, punctuating her statement by dramatically taking a crunchy bite of bacon. Joy swallowed a gulp of her green tea before saying, "Do tell." Remy nodded in agreement, hurrying to swallow the hefty bite of scrambled eggs she'd just taken. KT looked around at the two of them and leaned closer, gesturing for them to do the same.

Remy had no idea what to expect. _Everyone has their flaws,_ Remy thought in a snarky way. _Maybe being a creep in the middle of the night is one of them._ "I couldn't sleep, right? So I decided I would explore. I came downstairs and touched the painting in the front hall, and this little compartment came out of the clock." KT reached into her shirt and pulled out a strange necklace. "I found this little guy in the compartment. Weird, right?"

"Oh, _no_," said Joy with a surprising amount of feeling.

Remy looked up toward the miniature dining room. "You all right in there, Joy?" called Fabian. KT and Remy exchanged faintly alarmed looks; Joy answered Fabian saying that she was fine, and then turned back to the two new girls with a very grim expression.

"All right, there's a really, _really_ long story behind this one," said Joy. "But let's start with this. KT, when is your birthday?"

"Umm, July 7th," said KT.

Joy just looked at her for a second. KT looked back, slowly raising her eyebrows as though she was wondering about Joy's sanity. "That's my birthday," said Joy, "and it was Nina Martin's, too. There is this Secret Society of some adults from around here, including old Vicky, and they decided that I was the mysterious "Chosen One". They took me out of school for a term to prepare me for whatever ceremony they were going to do.

"Well, while I was gone, Nina Martin arrived and took my place, and it turned out that she was the _real_ Chosen One. Long story short, there was this ultimate battle between the students and the teachers, and a super-creepy guy named Rufus got involved, and the teachers tried to make some potion for immortality, but we students stopped them. Oh–and while Nina was here, she got all cuddly with Fabian, and turned Patricia into a bitch."

"Are you for real?" KT asked, her voice unintentionally growing quite loud as she neared the end of her question. "Girl, you crazy!"

"Wait, _what_?" Remy demanded at the same time as KT.

The three of them looked around at each other for a moment.

"So," said Remy finally, "you _didn't_ have mono?"

Joy shook her head.

"Lucky."

KT glanced back and forth between Remy and Joy for a second. "So what you're saying is," she finally said, lowering her voice again, "that me getting this demented eyeball necklace means that some crazy teachers are going to try and abduct me?"

Joy shrugged. "It's possible," she said, patting KT on the shoulder. "Be ready for anything." With that verdict delivered, she hopped down off her stool, picked up her plate, and walked over to carefully place it in the sink.

"Hold on," said Remy, as KT, looking shaken, got up to put her own dishes in the sink. "Joy, come back over here." Joy obliged, looking intrigued. "Did anything having to do with, umm, angels or griffins happen last year?"

Joy frowned. "Not that I'm aware of," she said slowly. "Why? Don't tell me you found a bird necklace!"

Remy snickered. "No reason," she said, offering Joy a lopsided shrug. "I just thought of Victor's raven and started to wonder."

"Now wouldn't that be a nightmare?" said KT, rejoining them at the square island in the center of the kitchen. _You don't know the half of it,_ thought Remy. She'd had her own nightmare last night, involving a man whose face she couldn't remember. She had been lost in a snowy forest and he had been supposed to guide her somewhere, except she kept losing track of him, as he had continuously disappeared into the trees. She distinctly remembered that he'd had a pair of big feathery white wings.

Remy, Joy, and KT were just exiting the kitchen and heading for the front door when the door in question opened and someone entered loudly. "Hello?" called a familiar voice. Remy smothered a laugh in her sleeve at the curious expressions of everyone around her and walked out into the front hall.

Tate was standing in the doorway staring openly at Victor, who was standing on the stairs. "So," Tate was saying while nodding, his hands in his pockets. "Taxidermy. That's where it's at."

"And just _who_ are _you_?" snapped Victor.

Remy cut in before Tate could offer some witty retort. "This is my twin brother," she said, hurriedly stepping over to grab Tate's arm. "And he's leaving now." She pulled him back into the living room and closed the door to the foyer behind him. When he was standing there looking somewhat lost, Remy released his arm and stepped back. "Well, good morning," she said.

Tate looked as though he had not had a good morning at all. His hair was messier than usual and there were dark circles under his eyes, as though he had barely gotten any sleep. "Same to you, sis," said Tate. He glanced over Remy's head and smiled. "Hello, ladies."

"_This_ is your brother?" said Joy, as Remy took a step back to stand between her and KT.

"Yup," said Remy, popping the 'p'. "The sole survivor of Isis House, apparently."

Tate winced. "Actually, you're wrong. I brought a couple of new friends along with me, but one of them has a bit of history with this house, so my other friend is keeping him company while I get you."

"Oh, I see how it is now," said Remy, putting her hands on her hips. "You're coming to get me, that's it? I can't even walk to the school building by myself?"

"Well, you are known for being a bit of a klutz," said Tate.

Before he could say anything more embarrassing, Remy quickly introduced her two new friends. "Joy, KT, this is Tate. Tate, this is Joy and KT."

"Could my friends waiting outside and I escort you girls to school?" Tate asked. Remy rolled her eyes. Although her brother was always changing with every move, the one thing that never changed was his obnoxious inability to stop flirting. Of course, Remy was the only one that found it obnoxious. Gwen, Quinn, and Millie Tyler had as well though, which was why they were the friends Remy had decided to hang on to.

"Of course," said Joy, playing right along. Tate offered her his arm; they exited the living room first, leaving KT and Remy to exchange amused glances and follow. Remy looked back at the other residents of Anubis House and saw that both Amber and Mara were openly staring at her brother. Remy found herself highly amused by this, and thusly found it rather hard to stop laughing until they were out of Anubis House.

"These are the other Isis House survivors," said Tate, gesturing at the two friends he'd made. One of them was a little short, blonde, and had a sweet face; the other was of average height, had very nice hair, and was Asian. "Joy, Remy, and KT, meet Mick and Seth."

As the six of them walked to school together, Remy realized that maybe she didn't want to move again.

* * *

School was completely different without Nina. Fabian found himself constantly thinking of her, wishing she could be here to sit beside him. He wanted to enjoy his classes–he almost always had, even in primary school–but he was finding it harder and harder without having someone to share his thoughts with. Of course he had friends: there were Patricia, Alfie, and Amber for sure, and maybe Joy, if she really wasn't angry with him; but all of them were already paired off together, happy with each other.

Patricia, of course, had Eddie, and although they argued almost constantly, it was annoyingly clear that they really did like each other and would probably be together for some time, if not one of those irritating on-and-off couples. Then there were Alfie and Amber, who were together. Alfie was really very patient, Fabian realized. He even listened to Amber talk about shoes.

There was Joy, Fabian realized, but he wasn't sure if trying to hang out with her meant that he liked her again. He didn't want to hurt her again, the way he knew he had last term. He hadn't felt as guilty about it last term as he did this term. Maybe the sense of guilt was increasing as his sense of loneliness did. Besides, Joy had other people to hang out with now, Fabian saw. The two new girls for sure, and it had looked this morning as though Joy had definitely appreciated the tall athletic guy with the dark hair, whoever he was.

Fabian might have continued to mope around the school for the rest of the day if his cell phone hadn't vibrated in his pocket on the way to the water fountain during French class. He paused a few feet away from Mr. Sweet's office to check his messages. There was one from Nina that read: _school is sooo boring w/o u! miss u lots! xoxo, nina ;)_

Immediately Fabian's day seemed a bit brighter. He pocketed his cell phone, thinking that he could call her later, and was about to start walking again when he realized that he could hear Mr. Sweet raising his voice. Fabian was a little alarmed: Mr. Sweet _never_ raised his voice. As ironic as it was, all the man could ever be was saccharine sweet.

"_No!_" Mr. Sweet was exclaiming loudly. A light thump followed that, as though he had slammed his fist down on his desk in anger. Fabian couldn't help but edge closer to the door to try to eavesdrop. Mr. Sweet lowered his voice, as if he knew that Fabian was trying to listen in. "We cannot follow through with this, Victor. You know as well as I do that without the Chosen it will be impossible–and that it will awaken the sleeper!"

"If by the sleeper you mean the Iris," said Victor, in that always-irritable-and-prickly tone of his, "then by all means you are correct, and by all means we can stop them."

"It will also awaken the Battlement!" declared Mr. Sweet. "What shall we do about _that_?"

"Fight them," Victor suggested coolly. "Honestly, Eric, the equation is not very hard to figure. We have the Tears of Gold; all we need now is Set to put them alight."

The conversation made absolutely zero sense, but that was the way teachers' conversations around here usually seemed to go. There was a rather long pause, and Fabian quickly walked away, thinking that Victor would probably exit the office in a moment. As Fabian bent over the nearby water fountain, he thought grimly that of _course_ there was going to be another Egyptian mystery this year. Honestly, would there ever be a normal term?

No. Of course not.


	4. house of change

**that's immortality, my darlings.**–Ali DiLaurentis, _Pretty Little Liars_

**four.**

During lunch, Eddie realized that maybe things from last term hadn't changed at all. He left his Spanish class to go to his locker, vaguely hoping that he would run into one of his Anubis House friends along the way; but he didn't see anyone from the house, which meant he would either be entering the cafeteria alone, going to sit alone in the common area, or going outside to sit on the front lawn or around the building alone. None of these options appealed to Eddie because he didn't _want_ to be alone.

This had actually happened quite a bit last term. At first Eddie had simply had no friends; and then, no matter how much effort he put into the relationship, Patricia continuously pushed him away, and ran off to be with her friends rather than keep him company. Maybe some of that made sense now, with all the weird ancient Egypt shit, but he still wondered why she hadn't trusted him enough to tell him. Did he really seem _that_ stupid?

Eddie was pondering these disturbing thoughts and standing there staring into his locker for lack of anything better to do when he heard a familiar voice. It was about damn time that he heard one, and at this point, he didn't care that it was Joy and he rarely spoke with her. He turned around and saw Joy walking along, chatting with Mick Campbell.

"Hey," Eddie said, slamming his locker. He stepped toward Joy and Mick, who stopped talking, stopped walking, and turned to look at him in surprise. Suddenly Eddie felt excessively awkward. He didn't want to sound like an insecure, angsty teenager by asking, _Umm, can I sit with you guys?_, even though that was exactly what he was. He was struggling for better words when Joy smiled at him.

"Do you want to sit with us?" she asked.

"Uh," was all Eddie could force out in that moment.

"Come on, mate," said Mick, giving Eddie a friendly punch in the arm. "You're one of the few in Anubis House I don't remember."

Eddie finally smiled, though he was certain he was blushing. "You mean from before your Captain Australia days?" Eddie said, as he began to walk alongside the two. "If you don't mind my asking, why _were_ you in Australia, anyway?"

Mick began to explain that story, which turned out to be a rather complicated one, as the three of them walked along. Eddie had no idea where they were going, but to be honest he didn't really care. He was just glad to have someone to talk to, as ridiculous as that sounded to him. And Joy was definitely being nicer than required: Eddie distinctly remembered being rather awful to her in the middle of history class last term, claiming she had been blackmailing Mara.

They ended up in the back of the cafeteria, by the little dessert bar. The two new girls from Anubis were already sitting in a big rounded booth, talking with the guy Eddie had seen with them this morning at the house and an Asian guy that Eddie didn't recognize. "Greetings!" said the tall guy with the dark hair. He looked up at the three of them and smiled. "You're Joy, you're Mick, and you're…?"

"Thanks for recognizing your roomie," Mick said jokingly, as he slid into the booth to sit beside Dark Hair. Dark Hair glanced at Mick and shook his head slightly, still smiling, before looking back at Eddie. During the intermittent time Joy slid into the opposite end of the booth to sit beside KT.

"I'm Eddie," said the boy in question, when Dark Hair continued to look at him expectantly. Eddie then slid into the booth beside Joy; he figured that was a better option than sitting beside Mick, because although Joy made him feel awkward, he didn't know Mick at all. "And who are you?"

"You know me," said KT.

"And me," said the girl with the weird name that Eddie couldn't quite remember. Eddie winced as he looked at her; the girl gave him a jokingly reproachful look and said, "My name's Remy. Think of it as Emmy with an R."

"I'm Seth," said the Asian guy. "I think I've seen you around before."

Eddie nodded, even though he had never seen the guy in his life. Maybe he had, though, and being his unobservant self, simply hadn't taken notice. That was probably likely. "And I am Tate," said Dark Hair, leaning back and putting his arms around the people on either side of him. Remy and Mick exchanged glances before moving away at the same time.

"Are you two related?" Eddie asked, gesturing at Remy and Tate. "You have the same eyes." It was true; although they had different colors of brown hair, and Tate was tall whereas Remy was short, their eyes seemed to be the exact same shade of blue.

"We're twinsies," said Tate in a fake falsetto, reaching over to put his arm back around Remy. "She's the artistic one. I'm the athletic one." He grinned a little cheekily, and then proceeded to ruffle his sister's hair. Remy squeaked in dismay and almost sat in Seth's lap in an attempt to get away from her brother.

"Okay, okay," said Mick, reaching over to pull Tate back. "You two can fight later. There are people trying to eat here."

"Not anymore," Joy said grimly. A second later she grabbed a pea from KT's plate and flicked it at Tate.

Most of lunch continued in the same fashion. Eddie started to relax, but he couldn't quite get the thought of Patricia out of his mind. He decided that if she said something or made some remark, he would tell her that she had her friends and he had his; and wasn't she the first one to decide that they didn't need to spend _all_ their time together?

He could only hope that argument would work.

* * *

Patricia spent most of the lunch period sitting in Jason Winkler's old classroom with Fabian, Amber, and Alfie. It felt as though there was a gaping hole in the strange sort of circle they'd subconsciously formed where Nina belonged, and Patricia couldn't help but notice that every few moments Fabian would automatically glance to his right as if expecting Nina to add something to the conversation.

It was pretty pathetic, really. At first Patricia couldn't decide whether it was sad or pathetic, but now as she grew increasingly more irritated, it just seemed pathetic. Honestly, it was as if he had been married to the girl. Patricia definitely missed Nina–she kept waking in the middle of the night out of habit, expecting Nina to be there telling her to get up and discover something new in the tunnels–but at least she realized there were real people around her, real friends that were still there.

At that thought Patricia felt uncomfortably guilty. She wasn't sure where Kreuger was at the moment; in fact, she didn't even think he had any friends outside Anubis House. But what Fabian had mentioned had sounded pretty important. If it had to do with ancient Egypt, Patricia didn't want to get Eddie involved. Sure, he knew about that now, but he knew the bare minimum necessary for understanding most of what went on around here.

The truth was that Patricia didn't want him to get hurt. Last term when he'd been kidnapped by Rufus Zeno for maybe fifteen minutes, he'd been smacked over the head so hard he'd gotten a concussion, and he hadn't been able to see properly for a good hour. He'd had a nasty bruise and a lump the size of a grapefruit on his head, and he had stumbled everywhere. Patricia might have shoved down her concern when it actually happened, but the concern had definitely been there.

The fact that she was concerned at all was another thing to get used to, but Patricia filed that away to think about later–or maybe, she rather hoped, never think about at all.

"All right, so I was going to get some water during French class," said Fabian presently, interrupting Amber's tirade about heels to Alfie, "and I overheard Mr. Sweet shouting."

"What?" interrupted Amber. "_Mr. Sweet?_"

"Shouting?" added Alfie, looking just as astounded.

Patricia disguised a derisive snort by burying her face in her elbow for a moment. She hoped it sounded more like a cough. _He's a _human_,_ she thought, raising her eyebrows skeptically toward Alfie and Amber. _Nobody can play doormat all the time and never get angry._

Fabian sighed. "Yes, he was shouting," he said, pushing one of his hands through his hair. "Anyway, he was talking to Victor, and it sounded like Victor wanted to do something with the Tears of Gold that Mr. Sweet really didn't want to do. Mr. Sweet said that doing something–I don't know what exactly, I missed the first half of the conversation–would wake up the Sleeper, the Iris, and the Battlement. He also said that it would be hard to do without the Chosen One."

There was a brief silence. "What the _heck_ does that mean?" Alfie asked. "I get the Chosen One part, since Nina's gone, but who is the Sleeper? And the Iris? And the Battlement?"

"I wonder if he mentioned the Osirian beforehand," murmured Amber pensively.

Patricia glanced in Amber's direction at her mention of the Osirian. Amber looked back over at Patricia and sort of half shrugged. "Maybe Sweetie's only getting angry with Victor now," said Patricia, "because he's trying to protect Eddie. Maybe before the students didn't matter to him as much."

"Or at all," said Fabian.

"Okay, wait," said Alfie. "Hold up a minute. I still want to know who those other things are."

"Ooh!" said Amber. "Let's make a list!" She proceeded to pull a blank sheet of paper and a glittery gold gel pen from her bag. She hopped down off the two-seater desk she had been sitting beside Alfie on and sat down in one of the two chairs behind it. "So right now we know there were a few Chosen Ones," Amber said as she wrote:

_Rufus Zeno; old Chosen One_

_Joy Mercer; fake Chosen One_

_Nina Martin; was the Chosen One_

"There's probably a new one now, actually," said Patricia as the thought occurred to her. Before her whole sentence was even out Fabian started to shake his head. Patricia looked over at him and folded her arms.

"I don't think there is a new one," Fabian disputed. "Mr. Sweet said that they would have to do it without a Chosen One."

There was another very brief silence; Amber looked back and forth between Fabian and Patricia for a moment before bursting, "Somebody tell me something else to write! My gel pen is leaking all over this page and making it sparkly and splotchy!"

Patricia snickered. Alfie said quickly, "Write down the Sleeper, the Iris, and the Battlement, but don't put anyone next to those yet."

Fabian looked as though he was lost in thought. In fact, Patricia noted, he looked rather as though he was trapped on some foggy misty moor where he knew absolutely nothing. She tried not to laugh at this apt description of his expression. "I think I remember," he said slowly, after several moments passed, "that in the term before last, when all this Egypt stuff started, there was something having to do with discs that had our names on them." He looked around at his friends. "Does this ring a bell for anyone else?"

Patricia frowned, trying to remember. Amber shook her head, brow furrowed in slight confusion. Alfie, however, said, "I do! I remember, because when Rufus chased us down there with those alien bug bites on his face, he was looking at all the discs with the names on the scales. I remember I saw my name, and I saw Nina's name, and I saw Jerome's name. Nina's name was, like, in the center or something, or somewhere important like that."

"The scales," said Amber suddenly. "Does that have anything to do with the Egyptian afterlife?"

Everyone looked at her rather blankly for a moment. "Amber," said Fabian, "you are the most brilliant person I have ever known. Make a note of that. Alfie, do you remember if Nina's name was actually on the scales?"

Alfie shook his head.

"What about the other names?"

"They were all on the scales," said Alfie with a shrug. "I don't remember which was on which, though. There were two scales, I do remember that."

When there were only five minutes left of lunch break, the session of let's-grill-Alfie-for-details finally ended. Amber's paper definitely had more notes, and a couple of doodles of flowers on the edges of the paper:

_Rufus Zeno__; old Chosen One, gone  
__Joy Mercer; fake Chosen One  
__Nina Martin__; was the Chosen One, gone_

_The Sleeper;  
__The Iris;  
__The Battlement;_

_The Scales: Chosen One off them, fate already decided.  
__Other students on them. Other students other things? Sleeper, Iris, etc.?_

_Eddie Sweet; Osirian, protects the Chosen One, has random superpowers_

_That leaves the rest of us in Anubis House…including new kids?_

_I'm writing on Amber's paper!_

_Amber;  
__Alfie;  
__Fabian;  
__Patricia;  
__Jerome;  
__Mara;  
__Joy; fake Chosen One  
__Eddie; Osirian  
__KT?  
__Remy?_

_Sleeper, Iris, and Battlement protect someone/something? Wake when threatened?_

_Iris related to Isis? Isis was related to Osiris, who was related to Anubis and Horus…_

Patricia decided that it really was a good bit of information, if not yet enough to really know anything. The four of them split up to go to their separate lockers before next hour; Patricia's locker was down a hallway that was off the cafeteria. As she passed the cafeteria, she happened to glance in, and recognized Eddie sitting at a booth on the edge of the big room.

She paused, and took a step closer to the cafeteria, trying to get a better look. For a second she couldn't believe her eyes. Eddie was sitting with Joy, who Patricia had only ever seen Eddie speak to maybe once; Mick Campbell, who was supposed to be in Australia; the admittedly cute guy that randomly appeared at breakfast this morning; both of the new Anubis girls; and a random Asian guy.

Patricia wasn't sure whether she was jealous or happy for him. She was glad he had friends that he could stand with on his own, but at the same time, she sort of missed him trying to get in on the Sibuna sessions. He was, after all, a Sibuna now, she thought. Shouldn't he have _wanted_ to see what she, Amber, Alfie, and Fabian were up to?

Patricia frowned to herself and tried to clear away her doubtful thoughts. There were other things to worry about.

* * *

"Okay," said Remy. "Was today weird, or was today weird?"

She was sitting cross-legged on her bed in the attic. Joy was lying on her own bed across the room, flicking through a magazine with a big picture of Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart on the cover. KT had thrown herself into a red threadbare armchair that had come with the territory of the attic. Remy assumed that the rest of the Anubis House kids were sitting around in the living room.

KT shrugged. "It was bound to be weird," she said. Her almost ridiculously curly hair was fanning out on the back of the armchair behind her. "I mean, look who we're stuck with in this house. The other houses probably have the same amount of weirdness, if not more. Last night before I went all Dora-meets-Drew, I set up my half of the room, and Amber didn't say anything to me. She only stopped me from covering up one certain spot on the wall and claimed it was because that was Nina's spot or something."

"She isn't coming back, is she?" Remy asked. "Then we'd all really be crammed in."

"Yeah, they've already stuck us in the attic," said Joy. Her voice was slightly muffled, as her head was currently resting between two pillows. "If Nina comes back though, they'd give her this whole room to herself and put us in the cellar or something."

"Ugh," said Remy. "I am not a fan of spiders."

"Me neither," said Joy and KT at the same time, and then laughed.

There was silence for a moment; Joy turned a page in her magazine. Remy frowned and persisted with her original line of fire. "I meant Eddie was weird today, actually," she said. "He maybe looked at me once before today. Was he friends with you, Joy?"

"Nope," said Joy, popping the 'p'. "He never really had any friends. He had Patricia, but she's his girlfriend, so she doesn't count."

"He was nice to me yesterday," KT offered. "I mean, he introduced himself, which is more than I can say for half the people living here."

"Maybe he wants friends," Joy said.

"Maybe," Remy conceded absently. She began to pull at a string in the sleeve of her shirt, and then stopped the moment she realized what she was doing. She might have started up another conversation involving Seth, the cute sarcastic Asian guy from Isis, but out of nowhere there was a loud creak overhead. Joy let out a surprised yelp and shot upright. KT almost slid all the way out of the armchair to the floor; and Remy immediately looked up at the ceiling, wondering where on Earth such a sound could have possibly come from.

"What the eff was that?" KT demanded. "Is someone dancing on the roof?"

Joy looked legitimately frightened. "I don't know," she whispered, and then quickly cast a glance out the window nearest to her. The sky was dark; supper had already come and gone, and the day was ending fast. Remy vaguely wondered if Joy thought she'd see some answers outside.

"Maybe that was the heat coming on," Remy suggested. KT just looked at her. Remy shrugged. "Okay, so maybe there's a squirrel stuck between the roof and the ceiling?"

"There are never any squirrels," Joy said faintly.

KT looked at Remy and then at Joy, and then looked back at Remy and said seriously, "I'm scared."

Remy shifted uncomfortably on her bed. She suddenly had the urge to look behind her, as if she might find someone standing there. "Should we go get Victor?" she slowly asked. Joy finally turned away from the window, looking confused. "He's the creepiest thing here, isn't he?" Remy explained. "If we've got him on our side, then we're all good, right?"

"Aren't we supposed to be saying that about Jesus?" said KT. "Not the creepy part, I mean the part where if He's on our side, we're all good?"

"Good point," said Joy. Some color seemed to be returning to her. "Anyway, I guess Remy's right…it's probably just the heat, or something."

Nobody believed her, and it was evident from her expression that she didn't even believe herself. The three of them looked at each other, and then at the same time said in varying tones of voice, "Victor." At that same moment there was another creak from overhead from the opposite end of the ceiling.

Joy screamed. Remy fell off the bed and then immediately struggled to her feet. KT jumped away from the armchair and nearly fell down the stairs leading out of the attic. Somehow all three of them managed to get out of the attic with minimal damage, and they sprinted for Victor's office. Eddie–_speak of the devil_–was standing at the top of the stairs, and the trio passed him as if they had never seen him.

"Victor," said KT, practically smashing through the door into his office, "there's something creaking in the attic and we know it's not the heating system because this house is a freakin' refrigerator."

Victor looked up from paperwork he had evidently been reading. "What?" he asked, already exasperated.

KT looked tempted to run behind his desk and yell, "Save me!" Joy quickly stepped in before any potential most embarrassing moments could occur. "We were all just upstairs in the attic," said Joy, sounding only a little panicked now, "when we heard a random creak. Then we heard another random creak a few minutes later, and we have no idea what it is. We ruled out squirrels, heating systems, and Alfie dancing on the roof, so now we don't know what it is and we're kind of freaked out."

"So?" said Victor, a moment after Joy had finished.

"So could you please come and see what it is?" Remy fairly begged.

Victor looked around at the three of them. "Oh, all right," he finally said, shaking his head and scowling. "Nothing is going to be found, of course. The only thing above the attic is the roof. It's windy outside and the house is old–the timbering was creaking, I'm sure."

Still, he accompanied them back to the attic. Remy, Joy, and KT let Victor go first before following. When he was finished wandering around and prodding at random bits of the wall, he sighed noisily and turned to the girls to give them his verdict. "It must be the timbering," he said, in his _and that's final_ voice.

"Thanks," Joy squeaked.

Victor grunted and waved one hand in the air dismissively in response before exiting, slamming the door tightly behind himself. "Let me just say," said KT, after a moment of silence, "I am very glad right now to have Amber Millington as a roommate. That is all."


End file.
